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H-1B Cap Season Underway

The H-1B filing window for fiscal year 2018 is set to open on April 3, 2017, much to the delight of many would-be H-1B workers with offers of employment in the United States. A total of 85,000 H-1B visas are available under the statutory cap; 20,000 of which are set aside for those with U.S. master’s degrees or higher. If the coming fiscal year is anything like the last five, the combined 85,000 H-1B visas will be gone at the close of the five-day filing window. USCIS will then conduct a lottery to determine which of the timely filed petitions will be accepted for adjudication and which will be rejected. Last year, USCIS received over 236,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions. Some predict this April’s filings will exceed that amount. Cap-subject H-1B petitions must be filed during the first five business days in April, however, preparations for these filings should begin as early as possible. Please contact our office immediately if you require assistance with your cap-subject H-1B petition filings.

Note: STEM Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) extensions are now available to certain F-1 students on a longer basis. Other options may be available to eligible foreign nationals whose H-1B petitions are not selected in the lottery. Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss all possible immigration solutions.